LOS ANGELES, April 14 (UPI) — Mother Mary, in theaters Friday, is a deeply psychological supernatural horror movie. The psychological element is stronger, but the latter works only because of the strength of the former.

Singer Mother Mary (Anne Hathaway) turns to her old wardrobe designer Sam Anselm (Michaela Cole) on Thursday for a new dress for a concert Sunday. Sam has not listened to Mother Mary’s songs for 10 years since their rift.

So the first half of Mother Mary involves Sam’s negotiation with Mary, and working through what kind of dress she will design. Hints of Mary’s crisis and their rift emerge early in the conversation and will be revealed in detail.

But, Sam is patient because she knows everything will come out no matter how much Mary deflects. Sam has such quiet confidence that there’s no need for her to argue because she knows she’s right.

Sam is so specific with regards to how and why she’ll choose fabrics and designs, yet omits the major element of the songs themselves. That shows how painful it was, and also that Sam is so capable she can design the perfect dress without even hearing the songs Mary will sing.

The audience hears Mary’s songs, though, in flashback performances. Hathaway sings pop songs written by Charli xcx, FKA Twigs and Jack Antonoff well. She did win an Oscar for Les Misérables after all.

Sam speaks in metaphors and Mary keeps up until they get so convoluted she has to just address the elephants in the room.

When Sam shares a supernatural encounter, it triggers a connection with Mary. The supernatural occurrences represent their psychological conflict metaphorically, but proceed to work them out visually.

Writer/director David Lowery constructs some beautiful, haunting imagery, such as Mary navigating the supernatural force against a completely black void. Both Sam and Mary interact with their flashback selves, Sam in a mirror reflection and Mary literally touching her past self.

The psychological dynamic had such fire, the supernatural feels less dynamic by comparison. Perhaps the supernatural half is asking the audience to do more of the reflecting, and the characters and performances have given viewers the tools to do so.

Still, it remains true to the characters, and true to Lowery’s exploration of broken friendship, the pressures of art and the hope for repairing both. There are some visceral scares, but it is overall more of a haunting tone designed to linger even after the characters resolve.

Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.